I had the day free in Bishkek to explore the city that doesn’t have much to offer touristically. I like days like these; I need them once in a while to do review photos, chill and do admin for things back home.
After breakfast in the adjoining cafeteria I walked to the bus station to find understand the area which I had missed completely and find out how to get to Almaty. But I got intercepted by a couple of cops who asked me to follow them to their office which was just a small windowless room in the station.
They shook my hands, asked if I had any drugs, asked me to empty my bag and pockets on the table. I was then frisked. All good, shook my hand again and I was free to go.
I walked to Osh Bazaar about 15 minutes away. It was a collection of sheds and buildings joined together with canvas. It wasn’t like some of the grander bazaar buildings I’ve seen in Central Asia. Having in the region for a while, there was nothing new. The lack of light meant that it wasn’t good for photography.
I continued for another 30 minutes towards somewhat of a city centre with various square including Ala Too Square. With construction, scaffolding and bad lighting, it wasn’t worth capturing anything for memory. Soviet style monstrosities!
Heading back, I took a different road and went past the Russian church which was in scaffolding as well!
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- Osh Bazaar.
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- Osh Bazaar.
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- Bakery and delivery trolley (baby pram). In the modern world we focus a lot on recycling. We forget about “re-using”; instead we want everything to look good and look the part. What’s wrong with delivering bread in a baby pram?
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- Around Bishkek.
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- Colour of autumn.
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- Russian church.
Back at the hostel, I chatted with three Malaysians I had met yesterday, as we lunched together. Fancy meeting three of my fellow-countrymen in Bishkek!
- Firstly a Malay lady accountant working in Dubai, about to move to Labuan for new job. She seemed to know a bit about various destinations and you could see the spark in her eyes when she heard about something that she had in her dreams, like Suqutra.
- Then, I also had a young Malaysian Chinese couple were living my dream already at their tender age. They had crossed over from Xinjiang in China to Kazakhstan. They intend to head back to China and then cycle back to Malaysia from Kunming.
I skipped dinner for some home-made muesli and kefir. I had bought oats and some nuts and dried fruit and assembled them together 🙂 I hadn’t been hungry much lately but I don’t think it is a recurrence of my Spanish giardia. More like not enough exercise and eating too much meat which is quite sustaining.